Storm Warning
by live.fast.twi-hard
Summary: After Edward leaves her, an angry Bella moves to the south and begins a reckless journey. The Volturi find her while she races across the plaines after a deadly quarry. Will betrayal and the Volutri keep Edward from saving her? Read & Review PLEASE!
1. Black Out

_Storm Warning Ch 1_

**A/N: This story evolved from the song "Warning" by Incubus. It is a mix of Twilight and **_**Twister**_**. After Edward leaves and Bella awakes from her apathy, she moves from Forks and tries to go on with her life. She cannot shake her feelings for Edward and a cataclysmic event sends her on a dangerous chase. The first few chapters are slow, but mostly it is set-up for the real story – bear with it. R&R please! I appreciate it!**

_I'll ruin you, Bella._

No

_You are not good for me._

No

_I cannot live like this._

......

Technically, I woke up about 16 hours later in my house, with Charlie standing over me, my living room packed with townspeople I barely knew. My kitchen was full of homemade food brought over by neighbor women. Did someone die? Why was I here?

How did I get here? The last thing I remember was Edward in the woods…..

_I can't be your guardian. I'm already gone. _

I could smell that rancid chicken spaghetti that Mrs. Tomlinson made every time there was a funeral in town. God, didn't everyone get tired of that chicken spaghetti?

_Your helplessness can no longer rule my life. I have enemies, Bella._

I got up and went to my room -only to find it not in the state of organized disarray that I left it in, but clean and orderly and completely devoid of anything that would remind of….him. I fell to my floor, tears spilling now from my bloodshot eyes. I wept until sleep claimed me hours later. Charlie avoided me, he hates crying and all things female. I know he wishes Renee would have popped out a boy that day 18 years ago. His life would have been so much simpler. My life would have been so much simpler.

_You will never see me again._


	2. Awake

I don't really remember graduating high school. I don't really remember anything between now and his leaving.

I remember everything before with perfect clarity. I remember every mistake I made. I remember every kiss, every touch, every word whispered. Every moment of my own weakness. I remember him telling me so many times that we shouldn't have been together. I remember him walking away.

For six months I anguished inside my own head, looking for some truth that would rationalize his leaving.

I decided that he told the truth. He really didn't want to pretend he was human anymore. He was tired of trying.

This realization is what woke me up. He said he was tired. He is freaking immortal. He never has to sleep, never has to eat and he was tired? I was a human, risking my life every second we were together and he was _tired?_

How dare he? I was tired of pretending that I was never going to die- that I needed no sleep, no food. I was tired of being treated like child. I was surprised he didn't make me wear a helmet everywhere we went. Like some kind of special kid that didn't understand how to take care of herself.

The anger woke me up. The anger at him for presuming that I didn't feel the same way. I was mad at him for not speaking to me like an equal – for not discussing ending this with me. What am I, some puppy he found entertaining for a while, but when I grew up and got to be too much trouble, he just left me on the side of the road somewhere?

For the first time in six months, I felt emotion. I was glad for the anger. I would take it. It burned away all my sadness and hopelessness. It turned my love to ashes. He was never coming back and if he did…well, he wouldn't find me here waiting for him like that puppy – left at home while master goes out. I wouldn't be waiting here by my window, waiting for _him._

I was leaving. I was done with high school. I would pack and leave and go somewhere he would never think to go. I would grow and live. While I knew I could never replace him, I could hope to just make due. My anger would be my companion and it would keep me above my despair until I could rebuild my life in a new place. Away from the misty forest where he used to carry me like a backpack.

Hold up! Why the hell could he never walk my speed? Why did we always have to tearing around the forest at mach 9 because he was so damn impatient!

I would go south. To sun and wind and storms and dry dusty fields. I would go to hills and valleys and rivers and sky wide open no clouds no fog. Where vampires only come out at night and where the Cullens, with their sophisticated shells covering their monstrous ways, would never deign to go.

To the country to the backwoods. Where I could live my life as simply or as complicated as I choose. Where I could be independent.

Where Edward would never follow me.

**Review please!! It makes my day to see new reviews. =] The best gift is a helpful critique.**


	3. Fear and Self Loathing in Topeka

Why did I always have to go do the one thing that makes my life unravel before my very eyes?

You know, this whole "self-loathing, deny-yourself-because-you-are-a-monster-and-deserve-zero-happiness" thing is getting completely out of hand.

I couldn't stand being there any longer.

My life had completely focused on one human girl.

I used to be above that kind of petty attachment. I had spent my life denying myself so I could be above it all. Emotional attachment was for the weak. Lowly creatures were moved by emotion.

All of my decisions were based solely on my intellect. When one is ruled by emotions, those emotions could be used against you. You could be coerced. You could be blackmailed.

It was smart to leave Bella before my feelings for her could be used against me. I had to leave her before the Volturi found out about my weakness – use her to get to me.

Aro had always coveted my "talent". My ability to hear the thoughts of those around me had aroused a hunger of acquisition in the old, powerful vampire leader. The more he insisted I join him, join his quest to lord over the world's immortal population with his rules of conduct, to more vehemently I refused to join.

I refuse to join his merry band of sycophantic followers, the terror twins Jane and Alec, the locator, Demetri, and strongman Felix, to name a few. They live sick, sadistic lives to benefit their masters Aro, Caius, and Marcus. Aro is the true leader of those three ancient foes to vampire freedom.

The problem was not in my refusal. The problem was that I was the first to refuse him, and Aro loves a challenge. The more I refused, the more he grew to covet my abilities. He now believes that he must acquire me at all costs. It is a game to him. A deadly game.

Because I know he would stop at nothing to force my acquiescence to his rule. He plays within his own set of guidelines, though. No lives taken. He wouldn't kill anyone in his insane bid for my allegiance. But turn someone into a vampire? He wouldn't hesitate.

That's one of the reasons I left Bella. I left her so Aro wouldn't come after her and force my hand while threatening to turn her immortal. With one touch of his hand, he would know how badly I would dread that for her. The ending of her human life because of me would cause me such pain, I would gladly join his coven, if only to spare her.

That was the reason I kept feeding myself in that endless moment in the woods behind her house. I was leaving her to keep her safe. I was leaving her for her, right?

Not totally.

The much, much more selfish part of my being left her because I was scared.

I was terrified of the hold she had on me. I was shocked at the way all my priorities slipped behind her. I could not believe that in a few, short months I had changed from a cool, rational personality to one moved by emotional reactions. If she was in danger, I must protect her. If she was sad, I must make her smile.

And honestly, it just got to the point where I had to ask – What about me?

What if I was sad? What could this mortal human know of a century of despair, of hating one's self so much it was a physical ache?

She could never understand me. I did not consider her my equal. I had to be with an equal.

So I left her.

I left her broken, tore away a future I knew she had created in her mind. A future including me, but she couldn't hold me there and I proved it.

And now here I am, writhing in emotional pain – no, swamped by it. Leaving her was sheer idiocy on my part. An idiotic plan to save myself from her.

I have some serious attachment issues.

No, I'm just the most monumental ignoramus in the history of the known universe.

But I have saved her from Aro.

Oh shut up you pompous, emotionally ignorant pig!

At least I'm self-aware.

HA!

**Review please! I promise the story picks up pace later! BPOV, EPOV, APOV, and much much more! =]**


	4. Definately not Oz

Honestly I hadn't planned on Arkansas. Really, I hadn't.

It just struck me as completely unexpected when I read the brochure stuck in the back of Charlie's fishing magazine.

Visit Arkansas! Land of lakes and rivers!

Yeah, okay. I like water. Water is good.

Where the people are friendly!

Okay. That's a plus.

Sports of all kinds, rock climbing, water skiing, boat racing, horse racing, hunting – ouch -.

Sounds fun. Water skiing isn't really conducive to Edward's personality.

So I googled it. Turns out it's a nice place with unpredictable weather and the sun shines a lot. I was in.

I restarted my life at the University of Central Arkansas. Its in a suburb of Little Rock. I moved into a one-bedroom apartment about a mile off campus. Dorm life was definitely not for me. Plus, I didn't think any roommate would like waking up to my screams in the middle of the night.

Just because I try not to think of him, doesn't mean I don't dream of him. Those dreams where my life ends every night, over and over again. Every night the misery I keep barely contained in the daylight wells up and spills over as I cry and wail for my lost love, my lost life, a future barred from me forever.

I hadn't realized until my first day of class what I mess I was. People just outright stared at me. I need a to do list.

_Bella's To Do List_

_Wash clothes_

_Iron clothes_

_Brush hair_

_Decrease dark circles under eyes_

_Remember how to smile_

_Retrieve life_

It's a work in progress.

I was taking 15 hours of class. I had to because of the scholarship I had won. It required 15 hours and a 2.7 GPA.

Cake

My classes were

Sociology

Biology

World History I

World Literature I

Writing I

Cake

And so continued my first week in Arkansas. I was tired because I had drove all the way from Forks. It felt like a 400-hour drive. Good thing all my crap fit in the back of my truck. A second trip was out of the question.

I had my studies and I had television. I had reminders that I was alone. I had anger.

People kept a wide berth from me on campus. In the small, overcrowded student center, I always had my own table. I was left alone by most. The only personal interaction I had was with one of the matronly librarians that worked late at night. She helped me get used to the cataloguing system they had.

I started checking out books – lots of books. I'll admit, I checked out Anne Rice's _Interview With A Vampire_ first. Louis reminded me of Edward and I threw the book across the room.

After that I move on to Bram Stoker. Then I read _The Historian_ – and on and on and on…..

After a few months I exhausted my need for vampire lit and moved on to technical reading. I found that textbooks kept my brain supremely occupied and made me so tired me dreams were muted, if not completely extinguished, with mental exhaustion.

I found I was interested in meteorology. I realized that Edward would have never guessed this or ever dug deep enough into my psyche to have figured it out. That gave me pleasure, to have found something out about myself that he had never guessed. I realized that there was probably many things about me he would never have guessed.

And so my quest to become a new woman, one completely unrecognizable by Edward, should we ever meet again, began.

I finished my world history essay in record time. My professor said he found the topic very interesting and unusual and immediately approved of my essay: Vampire legends of the Americas.

I just can't stop picking that particular sore, that tiny trickle of blood reminds me why I'm here.

I cannot forget my past, my love.

Even here, in this simple, nice place. Well, not always nice. Arkansas, I had come to find out, is a place where Mother Nature suffers from Schizophrenia. In one day, you could see the sun, a 15 degree temperature drop, a thunderstorm, and possibly snow – depending on the time of year. I learned that the locals have a saying that goes, "Hate the weather in Arkansas? Wait 5 minutes and it'll change."

I loved the unpredictability of the weather. The thunderstorms get particularly violent here. I would often set under my apartment's small porch and watch a storm roll through at night. The thunder would shake my very bones as the lightning seared dazzling pictures behind my eyelids, almost completely erasing his perfect, angel face in my eyes, his velvet voice in my ears.

One night, a particularly warm night for February, about 65 degrees, when what can only be described as one _helluva _storm blew in from the west, toward Russelville. I was completely entranced by the intensity, the beauty of this storm. I sat amazed on my porch for about 15 minutes.

Then I heard one of the most god-awful noises I have ever heard in my life.

It was a loud, howling roar that drowned out the storm. It was a sound I heard every Wednesday at noon when the city tested the tornado sirens.

_!!!_

I sprinted inside my living room, grabbing a blanket off my sofa, and ran for my bathroom. My radio had been blaring this advice for about ten minutes and thanked God I lived in a ground-floor unit. My ears filled with a roar like a train was about to crush me to the tracks. I heard my little radio broadcast a tornado warning for Faulkner County, mine, just a little too late.

It felt like my whole apartment was shaking clean off the foundations. My bathroom window burst open, covering me in a torrent of shattered glass and hail. The wind howling through that window drenched me with ice-cold rain. I knew the large hailstones would leave bruises, but I don't care because I'm not going to be here much longer to care.

I knew at any moment my whole world would implode as the tornado ripped through the small apartment that was -shortly before tonight- slowly becoming my home.

I had never felt more helpless in my entire life. I had never before wanted a protector as bad as I did then.

But what could anyone, even my immortal Edward, do in the face of an unstoppable force of nature?

I wouldn't survive. I would never see Edward again. He left me and here I am, about to die by a force stronger even than my love for him. I decided to die with his face in my mind and his name on my lips. Whenever I get wherever it is we go, in my heaven, he will be waiting for me. I was smiling as the door exploded out of the bathroom.

**Will Bella survive this storm, only to find a bigger one waiting?**

**Review Review Review please! I want to make this story better, please help me with your constructive criticism! It is much appreciated!**


	5. Vision

Alice

Carlisle's insane move has reduced us all to a nocturnal existence.

Kansas.

America's Heartland

No trees, no hills, no forest – we have to run all the way into Missouri to hunt. It's just ridiculous.

It was a snap decision, I couldn't anticipate and form a good argument against it.

Carlisle thought it was a good move for all of us to get Edward away from country that would remind him of Bella and his mistake.

So now Carlisle's working nights in a hospital on an Indian reservation.

Esme is restoring another gigantic ranch house.

Emmett wants to play football for the local high school, but we can all see how bad an idea that would be.

Rosalie is pissed because this confinement reminds her of what she is. She hates staying indoors during the day.

Jasper is uneasy because of the similarities between here and his old home in the south.

Edward sits at home a lot. He can't compose. He says his muse is gone. He has no desire to do anything. He says it is the right thing, to let her heal without him re-entering her life. He knows she left Forks, but he asked me not to look at her future. Give her the privacy she deserves, he said.

He writes to her. At least one letter a day, sometimes more. He never posts them, keeping them in a wooden box locked in his desk drawer. They are great, long letters with page after page covered in his distinctive calligraphic script, script that is shaky because as he writes his body shakes with the dry sobs of the undead. I cannot even look my favorite brother in the eye anymore. There is no light in his eyes; they are just empty black holes devouring the landscape searching for her.

I do not know what those letters say. I am afraid to read them, afraid to know just how deep his pain is. I can't imagine walking away from Jasper as Edward did from Bella.

Edward's pain is affecting the whole family. No one laughs anymore, for fear of offending him. We hardly converse, because we might inadvertently reference something that would remind him of her. The family drifts around the house like sad specters, pale and quiet. This separation has reduced our once nearly normal family to something much closer to what we really are, for the first time since being a part of the Cullens, I feel like a vampire.

Edward may have to told me to give her privacy, but still, I know.

I know she nearly died in a tornado a few months back. If I had seen her dying, I would have warned her. The tornado sideswiped her apartment complex, leaving her unit and a few others relatively unharmed. It was so hard for me to let that happen to her. I had considered visiting her. I knew she was unhappy. She was alone. She was throwing herself into her schoolwork so she would not have to think about Edward. It was beginning to get better, she was crying less and smiling a little more often, but she was still a pale shadow of my ex-best friend.

She is changing. My vision does not let me see her motivation, just her actions. I do not know why she isn't sleeping, or why she drinks so often alone in her apartment. I never see her with friends, always alone. In one of my visions, she threw a book across the room, screaming and crying. This has to be about Edward. She isn't functioning well without him either.

This new Bella is different. She is trying to change herself away from Edward's Bella, my Bella. She dresses differently, speaks differently, when she even speaks at all.

Bella has left Arkansas for the summer. She joined an internship in Oklahoma, at the university, ironically hunting and filming the very thing that nearly killed her - tornados. I think she might be slightly suicidal, or maybe just trying to get Edward's attention. Either way, both her and Edward are not functional apart from each other. I can see that this separation will not last, but I can't see the reason they rejoin or the consequences.

I just wish my family was ….

_We have had Demetri trailing her for three weeks and he has not turned up. Are you sure she is the one he cannot stay away from?_

_Yes, most gracious Aro, that human is who he killed my James to protect. The whole family mobilized around her to keep her safe. He loves her as I loved James. She knows about us, Aro. She knows what we are. You must consider the law._

_I created the law, I can consider it however I want. And I want _him.

_Surely, you must be aware, my dear Victoria, that Edward Cullen can hear the thoughts of those around him? He is an asset of the greatest value. I will convince him to join me, one way or another. _

_She is the key?_

_Yes, this Bella is the key to Edward's compliance._

_You know the law, Aro! The human female must perish, or become immortal herself! If we do not uphold the law, then why am I, Caius, even here for?_

_To help our quest, Caius. I never entertain for a moment the thought that you are here to uphold law, but to increase your own power. _

_I will have Demetri watch her for a few more days, then, if our dear Edward does not show up, we will apprehend her and bring her here, letting Carlisle know where she is. If that does not bring the Cullens to our doorstep, then you can decide, Caius, between death and vampirism for our Bella. _

_Felix, show Victoria the length of our hospitality. _

_With pleasure, Master. _

The excruciating sound of tearing metal jolts Alice back to consciousness.

_Oh my God, Bella!_

**Keep reviewing, they have been very helpful with this new chapter! Thank ya'll so much! Next chapter to follow shortly. **


	6. Broken Hearts and Traffic Laws

**I will warn you, I have taken great liberties with the University of Oklahoma's meteorology program, for which I apologize. This information comes from the Discovery Channel, The Weather Channel, and the movie **_**Twister.**_** Look forward to some human interaction with Bella (yay!), and the emergence of an old/new friend. These characters are property of Stephenie Meyer.**

Internship

I have never driven a vehicle this fast in my life. The hot Oklahoma wind gusts through the open window, blowing my ponytail all around my face and blocking my vision as the speedometer on my borrowed Tahoe crept toward 100 mph.

I yanked my errant hair out of the way and grabbed my Red Bull from the cup-holder. Before my move from Forks, one of these babies would have had me running on full for about two days, now it takes at least five to get me through the day. I gulped down the remaining caffeine juice and threw the empty can into the back of the Tahoe.

My team usually speeds everywhere we go, trying to head off a storm system. The OU decals and masses of antennae keep us from tickets. The cops know we are researchers and that speed is crucial.

The radio is blaring my favorite college rock station:

"_She woke in the morning / she knew that her life had passed her by / and she called out a warning. Don't ever let life pass you by."_

Oddly fitting, thank you, Incubus.

I was flying over the vast, flat expanse of the Great Plaines chasing the most magnificent sight in nature.

A fully formed tornado.

One just like the tornado that nearly wiped out my existence back in February. It leveled my part of town, just barely missing my side of the complex. I was luckier than most. A very casual acquaintance that lived two doors down lost everything she owned except for her phone and the clothes on her back.

The fear I dealt with while that beast roared by me showed me that I can't sit around waiting for my life to change. I had to change it.

So I looked online for meteorology internships that didn't require any prerequisites and ended up in the OU meteorology internship as a "all-purpose" tech. That means that I drive a lot, get coffee, plug in readings, and be the graduate students' bitch.

Its not that bad. I drive almost constantly and Dr. Tom trusts me to get close to the prize. I can judge a storm, I can just feel which way it will go, if it will develop or not.

I wanted to do something that would help other people avoid the fear I felt in that bathroom as I thought I was living the last moments of my life. So I am gathering information about the monster itself. Another reason I chose chasing was because not even Edward could protect me from the unstoppable power of nature. I ride a strange kind of high when close to a tornado and know that destruction close, and not even a vampire, for all their strength and speed, could slow its progress.

With miles of pavement flying away under the tires, I can enjoy being free. The feeling of driving this fast with Edward, as he pushed the Volvo to its limits (or the one time he took me out in the Vanquish) is at the back of my mind, but it is still there.

I have come to the realization that he will always be a part of me.

Even if I am no longer a part of his life, he will always be a part of mine. I have accepted that. I can live with it. Remembering him still causes me pain, even now, over a year after he left. Almost every night, as I lay in my bed alone, I wonder where he is now, what he is doing. I love him enough to wish him well. I hope he is happy.

"Bella!"

"What?" I'm having an epiphany over here.

"Well, I know you're into self-examination and having mind battles with yourself, but we just missed our exit."

"Oh. I'll turn around at the next town. "

"There isn't another town until Bartlesville. I think we're going to have to slow down and cut through the median."

"Who says we have to slow down, Jacob?"

While I answer my colleague and sort of newfound friend, Jacob Black, I slam on the breaks of the Tahoe, whip the wheel to the left, and skid across the grassy median punching the gas and rocketing back the way we had come down the deserted interstate.

Jacob is yelling now about me possibly killing us and how I have a death wish and how I always get too close to the tornadoes and blah, blah, blah. Risk taking is a new part of my life, one I never enjoyed with Edward. I find it rather fun.

Jacob does not find most of my risks fun. He is a responsible graduate student, but he has a steely personality. He was a rough and ready kind of guy, raised on an Indian reservation in Kansas. Dr. Tom, his advisor and head of meteorology, stuck us together as chase partners because Jacob does a good job of introducing newbies to the chase.

And he does. Jacob is very patient with me, in all my gloominess and hopelessness. He makes me laugh, but I don't completely trust him. He has quickly introduced me to the life of the chase. This is his third summer of storm chasing, and it's a life he loves.

Jacob is my navigator, my map man. He keeps us on the right roads, or finds short cuts to get us to the storms faster. He is very efficient when we solo a storm, just me and him chasing.

During our hours in the Tahoe together, I have learned a lot about my partner.

He is a child of a single parent home, his dad raising him and his sisters after their mom died in a car accident when he was seven. His dad, Billy, is a cool dude, he rebuilds cars in their garage. His sisters are older and all have families far away from Kansas. Jacob misses his dad, but is glad he can go to college on scholarship, unlike most of his high school friends back on the rez. He loves storms; he sees the beauty in them, as I do. He can hold a good conversation, but he can also sit in silence for hours, which I appreciate when I am thinking about my lost future, or remembering the way Edward's arms felt wrapped around my body.

Jacob is essentially good. He is friendly on my good days and he deals with me on the bad ones. He knows about losing someone because he lost his mother. We are a good team.

I haven't told him very much about my past. He only knows I moved from Washington and that I have some personal demons. I know he hears me screaming at night, Dr. Tom always sticks us in adjacent rooms. He buys my alcohol, when he's in a drinking mood, although we always end up drinking together alone in one of our rooms playing cards. He tells me about his mom and about the reservation. His friends sound lively and fun, foolhardy. I sit there and listen, drinking myself numb. Those are the nights I don't scream, the alcohol making me dream of times that Edward and I were happy.

Last night was one of those nights, I awoke expecting to find Edward waiting, my dream was so real and he had never left. I woke happier than I had been in a year, only to remember that I had dreamt his return and I could help the involuntary shout of despair and the torrent of tears that followed the pain of realization. The shout brought Jacob running and as he barged through the door, he caught sight of my face and stopped. He had asked me if I was okay, and I said I was. He then told me to be ready to roll out at seven, an hour from then. As he was leaving, he told me he knew what it was like to lose someone. His face was somber as he shut my door.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

With the late afternoon sun in my eyes, I nearly miss the driveway of the team's hotel for the night. Everyone else is already gathered outside waiting for orders. Jacob takes our stuff inside and gets our room keys while I join the team and get our instructions for the night.

The sun is beginning to move behind a large thunderhead, its anvil spreading to cover several miles, the underside covered in _Mammatus _formations, pocket clouds denoting a strong updraft. This storm feels promising.

Dr. Tom is razzing one of the grad students, Jess, about her lack of grit in the face of a storm. Last night she wanted to pull out early because of the severity of the storm and her close proximity. Everyone turns to face me as I join the group.

"Well, here's Lightning, where's Grease?" roars Dr. Tom as I approach.

Grease and Lightning are Jacob and mine's nicknames provided by Dr. Tom, everyone has one.

"I was unsure if Bella could keep up with the team; she is such a slow driver," said Socrates, the slightly older graduate student that just transferred to the program from Italy a few weeks ago. I don't know Socrates' real name, but he looks of Greek descent, but has a very cultured, Italian voice. He scares me slightly, he watches me like I'm something to eat and his very dark brown eyes are unnerving.

"I thought ya'll were lost for minute, did you miss your turn?" said fellow low-life tech and all-around bitch, Lauren.

"Yeah", I said, "We missed our exit because Grease was slacking on his navigation."

Jacob laughed as he joined our circle, "Whatever you say Bella."

Dr. Tom yells for attention and we all circle close to receive our night's orders.

"The system is moving due east, it should pass over here in about two-and-a-half hours. Sundance, I want you and Millie running point. Set up east of the storm with a good viewpoint and film the formations. RC and Mojo, I want both of ya'll on computers keeping an eye on the Doppler in the van with Socrates driving. Stay with the storm and track it, but stay out of the damage path. Grease and Lightning will be in the fray tonight. Ya'll are going to run all the way into the system, getting as close to a tornado as you can manage. Lightning, this is your ballgame – I'll be on the radio if you need advice, but I'm relying on your instincts, you can judge a storm better than all of us. Get some good footage and make your readings. Everyone else, you're with me doing recon. Don't grumble, it makes my acid-reflux flare!"

With that little speech, everyone peels off to their respective vehicles and roars out of the hotel parking lot in search of very dangerous weather.

**The song at the beginning of this chapter is "Warning" by Incubus, the song that inspired this story. Please keep reviewing! It helps so much to hear your advice. =] Next few chapters – the shiz hits the fan!**


	7. Blame

**A/N: I promised you action. Now I must deliver. Thank you for reading this far!**

EPOV

If it were possible for vampires to be unconscious, I would have achieved it by now. I would welcome nothing more than a brief respite from my longing to return to Bella and my pain at hurting her so deeply. Alice tries to hide her periodic visions of Bella, but I caught one glimpse - a most agonizing vision of Bella hurling a book while sobbing and cursing my name. The amount of pain I have caused was apparent in her streaming eyes.

Thoughts of her consume my mind. With my complex vampire mind, I could think of many facets of her and my mistakes at the same time. I often wonder about what she is doing now, at that very second. Is she eating? Sleeping? Is she smiling? I hope she still smiles. I do not, but I hope for her sake that things make her happy. I haven't smiled since the day I left her broken in the woods.

I write her every day. Sometimes I write many different times day. Of course, I never post them. It would cause her too much pain to receive letters from me, whom she believes has moved on. In my letters I explain to her about the Volturi and why I had to leave her, to protect her. I left her for her. I also apologize repeatedly for the other reason I left. I beg forgiveness for my petty underestimation of her, of not treating her as an equal. For damning our relationship because she didn't understand me. It was my fault, I never let her. I never explained my life. There are so many years of dark nights that I never told her about. How could I expect her to understand something she had never experienced? I apologize to her for the unfairness of my judgment. I ask for her forgiveness for my hubris, my awful pride in my own intelligence.

And where has that intelligence got me? I'm without my love. I am without a life. I exist only within this dark room, looking out on the world, but only seeing a pair of chocolate brown eyes with tears welled in them.

"Son, I need your help at the hospital, there has been a car accident and I need an extra pair of medically trained hands."

"I don't know, Carlisle. I can't concentrate on anything. I only see your face through a vision of her's."

"I am not going to tell you I understand, because I do not. The pain you are experiencing is one I have never dealt with, but I am here, the family is here Edward. We accept your loss and your pain, but you must attempt to function, for the good of those around you."

"You are right, Carlisle, but how do I function when my reason for living is barred from me?"

"You must learn to live, son. Take solace in the fact that she is safe from Aro's hands."

"Carlisle, surely if I went back one time, Aro wouldn't follow me to her?"

"We must assume that Aro will be watching for your movements, he wants to join him so badly, he will use force if necessary. I am surprised he hasn't found Bella yet, considering how long you were together in Forks. You cannot jeopardize her life now, or what has all your pain been for, if not to keep her safe?"

"Yes, you are right, as always. I will accompany you to the hospital."

"Thank you, Edward."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

JPOV

I really hate the pain Edward is going through. I really do. I feel horrible about my role in all this heartbreak. I can't believe I tried to kill by brother's love because of a paper cut. I can emphasize with Edward, probably better than anyone can, because every time I enter that house, I am living Edward's anguish. I try to stay out as much as possible, to save myself from his despair and to keep from reminding him of one of the reasons he left.

But he is gone with Carlisle to the hospital, so I am sitting with Esme in the living room, watching Rose and Emmett play cards. I have no idea what they are betting, but I'm sure, with Emmett, its vulgar.

"Thanks for being so understanding, Esme."

"No problem, my dear son, it was not your fault. It was going to happen eventually with Edward's, then current, mindset. I am sorry you must live his sorrow because of your gift."

A wave of anguish so acute it caused me to cry out, ending Rose and Em's game, washed over me in that second. It had a familiar tinge that made my body turn to ice.

Alice.

At that moment, Alice burst through the door, ripping it from its hinges in her haste, screaming Edward's name, then Carlisle's and mine mixed together. I caught her in my arms, restraining her from streaking around the room, screaming their names.

"Alice! What's wrong?!"

"Edward! Where's Edward?"

"He is at the hospital with Carlisle. What has happened, Alice? I can feel your terror."

"Bella! The Volturi! Aro has sent Demetri to follow her and wait for Edward to go to her. He's been trailing her for weeks. Now that Edward hasn't shown up, Demetri is going to kidnap Bella and take her to Aro so Edward will have to go to Italy and join the Volturi! Then they will kill Bella once Edward has complied and Edward will either die fighting for her, or their talented guards will affect his feelings, like you, and make him forsake her!

"We have to go to her! We have to help!" yelled Esme.

"We'll pick up Carlisle and Edward on the way, let's go!" said Emmett.

"We'll have to take two vehicles, the two fastest. We'll take Carlisle's Mercedes and Edward's Vanquish," replied Rosalie.

"That isn't everything!" yelled Alice, "Demetri will try to apprehend her tonight, during their storm chase, he'll kill her partner and take her and make it look like the tornado destroyed their SUV. Everyone knows Bella always gets too close to the tornados. The tornado that will develop tonight will be the biggest they've ever went after. There will be no evidence that Bella didn't die in the storm. I see two ways for her now, either Demetri catches her, or he drives her deeper into the storm and she dies in the tornado. We have to get there and help her. We have three hours to find her and protect her, we will have to fight Demetri. I cannot see if he will have back-up or not."

"I have the keys!" screams Rose.

I grab the Vanquish keys and pick up Alice's slight body and run to the fastest car in our garage. If I hadn't been so consumed with terror for Bella, and dread of Edward's pain if we should fail, I would have enjoyed the chance to drive Edward's most prized possession.

I peel out of the long, flat drive with Emmett, Rose and Esme in the Mercedes right behind me.

**Review review review! I'm trying my hand at action sequences. Next chapter to follow quickly. I'm just as anxious as you are. **


	8. Demon's Eyes and Untold Lies

**A/N: Sorry I've taken so long with this, real life, as it often does, got in my way. Thank you for the encouragement and the reviews. Thanks for bearing with this story so far. I hope this delivers. **

JPOV

At the speed we were driving, it didn't take long to reach the hospital. Alice's eyes were completely glazed over, consumed with watching Bella's future, hoping Bella would decide to sit out tonight's chase for some reason.

I squealed into the hospital parking lot with Emmett right on my tail. We sailed into parking spots barely bigger than our cars, even in our haste we now had to be discreet. Carlisle couldn't just leave the hospital while he was on call for no reason.

Alice, anticipating my question, said, "Tell Carlisle to use the 'death in the family' excuse, they'll believe him and it could turn into the truth."

I could tell that Emmett was having trouble moving at human speed across the parking lot, he loved Bella as the little sister he lost when Carlisle changed him. Rose was more concerned with Emmett's pain if we failed than Bella's own safety. The waves of concern emanating off Esme was a testament to her devotion to her family, and to her favorite son, Edward.

After a few seconds that seemed like ages, we were through the door and into the lobby. Alice took off toward the ER, but then turned and gave me an odd look, and I realized that we all expected Edward to meet us at the door, hearing our panicked thoughts as soon as we entered the parking lot.

"They must be severely occupied," said Alice, "I can't see them anymore."

Esme then saw a nurse she had grown close to after helping the nurse redecorate her living room.

"Sheila, where is Carlisle? A close relative of his has passed away and we need to let him know."

"Carlisle is in radiology, Edward is with him. They have the car accident victims put back together and are reviewing the X-rays. I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you, Sheila."

Radiology would explain why Edward hasn't heard us yet, he can't "hear" through thick lead walls, and I believe this old hospital still has a very thick layer of lead in the walls around their radiology equipment.

It would be a small miracle today if they were in there alone.

Alice reached the door first and swung it open, running to Edward and pressing her hands to both sides of his face. I didn't understand why she did this until Edward staggered under the enormous weight of her visions as he caught every minute detail. Carlisle stood there, with waves of confusion rolling off him, until Esme explained, lightning-fast, what the situation was. His eyes filled with a deep determination as he turned to Edward.

"Get up. Everyone, go back to the cars. I will go to the nurse's station and explain why I am leaving. This is the most serious situation we have ever dealt with, but we will handle it. Edward, I give you my word that we will get Bella back here alive, whether we save her tonight or find her later in Italy. I swear to you no harm will come to her, as your father and creator, I swear I will do my best. Now go!"

We ran out of the hospital slightly faster than a human could have, but luckily we didn't meet anybody on our way to the cars. I wasn't sure what Edward would do, ride or drive, but when he ripped the car keys from my hand, breaking my ring and pinky fingers, I knew he wanted to drive.

"GET IN NOW OR I'M LEAVING YOU HERE!" bellowed Edward from the driver's seat of the Vanquish, the engine already snarling as he revved the engine.

"You don't even know where she is!" screamed Alice, as she slid into the back seat, I followed her into the Vanquish, folding my long legs under the dash while slamming the door behind me. I pulled my fingers back into place before they could heal out of place.

"Damn it, Alice! Why didn't you tell me she was chasing TORNADOES! I left her to keep her safe, but she jumped from the frying pan RIGHT INTO THE FIRE! And Demetri watching her, how the _HELL_ couldn't you see that?" Edward was screaming at my wife, the tendons in his neck jutting through his skin and my old feelings of defensiveness resurfaced. I squashed them down, now was not the time for a fight with Edward when Bella's life was on the line.

"She's getting harder to see all the time, Edward. I don't even see her every day anymore, I was lucky to see her this afternoon. Take this on-ramp southbound towards Oklahoma City, she'll intercept the tornado about twelve miles south of Bartlesville at about 7:00 p.m. It's five right now, even if you push this car to its limit, it'll be close. I see that we'll get there before Carlisle, Emmett, Rose and Esme, which is troublesome as we'll need Emmett's strength."

"We have to get there, Alice. Jasper, can I count on you to have my back if it comes to a fight?"

"Of course you can, Edward. I love Bella as much as anyone in this family."

I was surprised by the words coming out of my own mouth as I stared at the flat, prairie landscape flying by at 180 mph and climbing. I was surprised that I would want to help Edward in this way. I hadn't ever considered Bella a real part of the family until today, when I felt everyone's reactions to the danger posed to her by the Volturi and her own actions. Bella Swan changed this family when she changed Edward. We all saw the difference she made. For the first time, he was letting something other than cold calculations rule his actions. He finally understood the bonds between Alice and I, Emmett and Rosalie, and Carlisle and Esme, instead of scorning our love as a way for other people to control us. The fifty-odd years I had to live with Edward before Bella was a trying time for me, but Alice wanted to be there and I stayed for her. There were times when I was so angry with him, he would insinuate that my military training was moot if I let love determine my actions, that I wanted to scoop Alice up and take her away, but he could hear my plan and would tip off Carlisle, or worse Esme, and they would convince me to stay. Edward would act all contrite, but the same thing would happen again soon enough.

After Bella, he didn't judge the love between Alice and I as weak. He could see the greater happiness we enjoyed with each other because he had found that with Bella, and at first, he couldn't handle it. That's the real reason he left. I could feel it oozing off him when he came in that first night after he left her. It shocked everyone when he told us. I had never seen Esme as mad as she was then, but she didn't turn it on Edward, she let it out on Alice and I later. Everyone was horrified by what Edward had become after leaving her, this dour, spectral being was much worse than a judgmental cocky douche. While he was with Bella, I had grown to finally think of Edward as a brother and friend, and I would do anything to get Bella back for him.

"Speed it up, Edward! My vision's going foggy," murmured Alice.

Edward let out an inarticulate snarl and punched the gas on the already flying Aston-Martin. We blew past cars as if they were speeding in reverse. If he had blown by a cop, I don't think they would have believed their radar gun – they certainly wouldn't have caught us, but I don't think a police chopper on our tail and some road blocks would help us save Bella tonight.

Edward could barely force words out through his own panic at Bella's safety so our flight over the Kansas/Oklahoma countryside was quiet, punctuated only by Alice's murmured directions to Edward. I reached my arm back to her and clasped her hand in mine, fervently praying that we would get Bella out alive.

As much as it would kill Edward to lose Bella, Alice would lose too. She loved Bella almost as much as Edward.

As we drove, a huge, black mass of clouds began to dominate the late-afternoon sky and lightning began to flash on the horizon.

"It will be very, very close," whispered Alice.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

BPOV

The exhilaration I feel when chasing renders me unable to remember why my life sucks so bad. Maybe that's why I do it. The closer I get to a tornado, the less I feel my own sorrow. In the fight to the best readings I can, and then getting me and Jake back out of there alive completely takes my mind off Edward.

"Where are we headed Jake? The storm is headed north-northeast, I need a road."

"Okay Boss-lady, hold your horses….It looks like you'll need to take this next turn right and then make a left on the third road to the left. It's a dirt road, so we may have a bumpy ride, but that should get us right under the thing."

"Thanks Jake, you're the best."

"I know," laughed Jacob.

"Now that we have our bearings, crank out the jams Bella!"

"Crank out the jams? Who are you and what have you done with Jacob "my-steadfast-navigator" Black?"

"Chasing just puts me in a good mood. It does you too, when we chase you look so animated, so different from normal."

"What do you mean by that?"

What! I have been working on my to-do list so hard this summer!

"You look so lost most of the time, Bella. Everywhere we go, you just stare at the horizon, usually to the northwest. I don't know what has made you so depressed and angry, but it must have been bad."

"You have no idea Jacob."

"Maybe," whispered Jacob, as I turned the radio volume up, decisively ending this painful conversation.

I needed to get out of my memory-induced depression and get my mind right for this chase. I could feel that this would be a challenging storm. The storm's anvil had spread out for mile with a greenish-black core. I turn the radio off and switched to the CD player, and from the speakers blared my favorite song to chase to, right at my favorite part.

"Wish you were here, I'm a wounded satellite. I need you now, put me back together, make me right."

I punch the gas and we fly over the dirt road, Jacob begins filming the storm with "Anna Molly" providing the soundtrack. The green-black clouds seem to come almost to the ground. I switch the headlights on to see in the inky darkness of the storm. The first raindrops begin to spatter the windshield about fifteen minutes later.

"Looks like it's about to do something," Jake hollered over the bass.

"Yeah, looks like the cloud might pack a microburst, we'll need to avoid it, but it's so hard to see in this darkness," I yelled.

"Turn the radio back on and get the latest warnings list, Bella. I'll get the Doppler on the laptop."

"……severe thunderstorm warning issued for Osage, Nowata, Tulsa and Rogers county until 7:30 p.m. central time," intoned the radio studio weather man.

"Nothing good so far, what if this cell doesn't produce? Do you want to try one of the other ones in the area?"

"No, Jacob, this is the one. I can feel it. Something big is about to go down."

"Bella, do you realize just how different you are when you chase?"

"Jake, don't start this again. I don't want to talk about it."

"That's exactly your problem! Do you realize that we've spent about 90% of this summer together and I don't know a thing about you?"

"You know I don't like talking about myself."

"Don't give me that shit, Bella. I know what you're up to. You don't want anyone to know you. You put up this devil-may-care front, joking with the team, but really, no one knows you _at all_. I want to know you, Bella, but I also know that whoever left you did a hell of a job because you can't even sleep at night. I hear you screaming his name at night, and it breaks my heart every time. You are such a great girl, Bells, but he messed you up good.

"I know I can't completely fix you, Bella, but I want to try. I'm not saying I'll replace your Edward. I don't even want to try, but I want to make you smile and laugh. I could make you happy if you would give me a chance. I've been trying to make my intentions known to you almost since the day we met, but you are so locked into your own memories that you haven't even noticed.

"How..how do you know that name?"

"I sleep next door every night. You scream his name, begging him not to leave you again. Let go Bella, let me take your pain. I'll make it better, I promise. I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy and I'll never leave you, unless you ask me to. No strings, no commitment, just let me try to put some light back in your eyes. The only time I ever see it is when you are risking both our lives."

"Jake….I can't…."

"How do you know, Bella? Have you ever tried to live without the memories? You could be happy with me."

"Jacob, it's not like that. I just can't let him go. I've been trying as hard as I can for over a year and my life is self-destructing without him. I can't _live_ without him. I just exist. And that's been my goal. I'm not saying we didn't have our problems, because we did. We _certainly _had our share. Do you think I like being bound to someone who doesn't want me anymore? He told me he left because he just didn't want me anymore. I _hate _this, Jake. I'm ruined, you don't want me, I'm damaged. I'm not worth a sweet guy's time and effort. I'll always be missing an essential piece. I can't even imagine loving someone else, and I definitely can't think of the actual _act_ of loving someone else. He took that away from me too."

Lightning flashed all around the Tahoe as I finished my monologue, a fitting tribute to the searing, white-hot pain of my admission. Tears I had kept hidden flowed freely down my cheeks. In that moment I hated everything about my life. The bright lightning flashes illuminated my realization that even if I ever wanted to move on, to accept another's love, I never would be able. I had given myself to Edward so completely that when he left, he took that essential part that allowed me to put love in other people. I was pragmatic enough to realize that Jacob would be good for me. He was responsible, he had a bright future, he was loyal. But for all that, I had not an ounce of attraction for him. All I could think about when I looked him in the eyes as I told him I could never love him were a different set of eyes, eyes that shone amber-gold in the darkness of my old bedroom. A pair of eyes that, in that moment, I despised for the havoc they had wreaked on my now useless life. He has reduced me to an existence of self-imposed spinsterhood. But for all my hate, I knew that I was irrevocably in love with him, and for that I hated myself most of all.

"The National Weather Service has now issued a Tornado Warning for Osage and Washington counties. If you are in the path of this storm, we urge you to take shelter immediately. Shelter in a cellar, basement, closet or bathroom in the center part of your home. This warning will expire at 7:30 p.m. This storm has the potential to produce a very strong tornado, the National Weather Service predicts a strong F3 to F4. Keep it right here for more updates on the severe weather throughout the night."

"We need to head north! We're going to miss it if we don't move now!"

"Let's get this one, Bella, we'll work on you later. I won't just let this go."

I peeled out of the gravel drive we parked in, where we were watching the storm develop and discussing my broken life. Right as I pulled out a very familiar car spun to a stop right in front of the Tahoe's front bumper.

What the hell is he doing here?

Jacob made out of the truck first, apparently he really disliked Socrates because he was laying into him about nearly killing us. I jump out to go berate the mysterious Italian guy for holding us up when Jake runs back to the Tahoe and tells me to drive.

"Apparently Dr. Tom had a change of heart and has stuck Socrates with us for the rest of this chase."

"Why? He doesn't think we can handle it?"

"I don't know. Socrates just said Dr. Tom told him to come find us. He's going to follow us to the tornado and set up his camera with us."

"UUGGHHH!" So now its peel out part deux and we actually make it on the road with Socrates following behind.

XXXXXXXXX

JPOV

"Turn here and drive straight, as fast as this car will go. When this road runs out, turn right onto that highway and we will overtake them in about 15 minutes. By that time they will be in sight of the tornado. It is the biggest I have ever seen. We have a problem. Demetri has already found them, but is waiting to take her until they get closer to the tornado. Once they get in sight of the tornado, Demetri will get in their SUV. We will have to be careful about overtaking them. Run with your lights off. Jasper, it will come to a fight."

Alice pulled me into the back seat of the Vanquish with her, kissing me softly on the lips and whispering that she loved me in my ear. She said that she couldn't see the outcome of the fight because the mindless path of the tornado had blurred her sight.

"If it should come to it, I will fight and die with you. It can be no other way. One of us cannot live without the other, you know this. Jasper, we fight together. We fight for us, our family, and Bella."

I couldn't bear to think of anything that would take Alice away from me. If it came to it, we would die together, as equals, fighting for people we love. My fear for my tiny wife gripped me then, and in that fear, I recognized its counterpart rolling in waves off Edward. For those few minutes before we caught up with them, Edward and I understood each other completely. He nodded almost imperceptibly, without taking his hawk's eyes from the road, but I knew it was for me. Our fear for our loves made us equals, comrades, brothers finally.

Far ahead of us, bright red taillights blinked at us through the gloom of this very dangerous storm.

XXXXXXXX

BPOV

Socrates flashed his lights at me to pull over right as I caught sight of the massive beast of a tornado. This was beyond sheltering in a bathroom. A tornado like this would have blown me right out of that bathtub I where I sought shelter in Conway. It would have destroyed the town. The National Weather Service had not done this storm justice. It had to be an F5. The base was at least a mile wide. In the waning August afternoon light, I could see it completely uprooting the sparse trees that dotted the landscape. It flung a car out a few seconds later.

I squealed to a stop as Socrates abandoned his car on the side of the road and jumped in the back, chucking his camera bag into the floorboard. As I sped towards the tornado, I thought it odd that he would treat his high-dollar Nikon in this fashion. Most of the grads treated their cameras like their children, cradling them gently, naming them, and cleaning them constantly.

"Jake, call in a sighting confirm with Dr. Tom and have him forward the confirm to all local media," I ordered.

While Jake was talking to Dr. Tom in muted tones, so as not to ruin our now important video footage, Socrates put his hand on my shoulder as I drove. I tried to shake off the cold hand, but it stayed put – exerting a slightly painful pressure. He was making me more nervous by the minute.

"Here looks good for set-up, Bella. We've got a great sight-line," said Jacob.

"And I thought the Swan-Black team always got too close to storms. Where's that dare-devil spirit, Swan? I expected to actually get close to a tornado riding with you."

"I can get us closer, Socrates. Don't worry about that."

"Oh, I won't. I hear you get very close to tornadoes. _Dangerously_ close, even."

The tornado was off to our left, heading northeast, about a mile away when Socrates' hand tightened very painfully on my shoulder.

"You know what Bella? I think we would get much more out of this chase alone…"

In a lightning-fast movement I recognized much too late to attempt to stop it, Socrates took Jake's head and wrenched it to the side. His neck snapped audibly, making a sickening crunch.

I screamed and swerved the vehicle. Socrates now occupied the front seat while Jacob's broken body was flung into the back.

"Keep driving, honey. And don't worry, I've been ordered to keep you alive for a while. By the way, my name is Demetri."

I was too afraid to respond. My Jake was gone. I would never hear his voice again. In this short summer he had become my best friend. He had loved me enough to try to fix me. He had loved me broken and bleeding. He was a beautiful soul, and he was gone.

"You realize what I am now don't you? I was surprised you didn't recognize the signs, as much time as you have spent with our kind. Are the Cullen's that different from us?"

"What do the Cullens have to do with this?"

"Everything, silly girl. My master find Edward Cullen to be very valuable, so I am here to capture you, his love, and take you back to my master. He will then decide what to do with you, but I expect you will be used to barter Edward's allegiance to Aro."

"Taking me isn't going to make Edward followed your Aro, he left me. He doesn't love me anymore. You've got the wrong bartering tool."

The terror was seeping in now. I knew I was about to die. The tornado was so close now. This was as close as I had ever been. I could see the raw power twisting up huge tracts of land, destroying everything in its path. The flashes of lightning lit up Demetri's face and I could see the evil glint in his eye, the realization that he was alone in a small space with a human that was no longer valuable to his master. His eyes became a subtly darker shade of muddy brown and I realized that he was wearing contacts and that his eyes were probably closer to a shade of deep burgundy, the color of drying blood.

"Mmmm…well. That changes things."

He stroked my cheek with the back of his marble white hand and told me to pull over. He drug me out of the car and onto the shoulder.

"It is a shame that everyone will think you both died in a tornado, but we have rules. But enough talk, your thin, translucent skin is driving me insane with longing, your scent pungent with caffeine and alcohol. Damaged, just the way I like it."

Demetri leaned in, keeping me in the iron grip of his arms. It was so like and unlike another grip I remembered, one so amazing it would stop my heart. This was it. My end. The dreams would finally end, my nightmare gone.

His lips brushed my neck as rain splattered my face, mingling with my tears. His cold breath felt so hideous against my skin, a mocking reminder of the best months of my life. I would soon be free of my memories' spell. Demetri growled low in his throat and I felt his razor sharp teeth resting just on the outside of my skin. As I gasped my last few breaths, I dreamed that light flooded over me, blinding me, and the most beautiful voice in history was calling my name. I found heaven on the side of an Oklahoma highway.

**Review Review Review! I will attempt to finish the next chapter faster than this one. I'm sorry I killed off Jacob, but the story demanded it. There will be retribution. **


	9. Life Is Such A Fragile Little Thing

**A/N: These chapters get harder and harder to write. Sorry it has taken so long. **

JPOV

I could just make out the shadowed form of a red Tahoe pulled onto the shoulder of the road in front of us. The tornado was so close now the Vanquish was rocking back and forth with the wind, the blown dust making it harder to see. Edward's feral snarls became a full-throated roar as we caught sight of the two figures standing at the side of the road.

Edward locked the breaks on the Aston-Martin and slung it sideways, stopping in the middle of road, headlights bathing the horrifying tableau with ultra-violet light. Demetri had Bella wrapped in his arms, her head tilted back, his mouth poised above her neck in a sick imitation of a lover's caress, an evil smile playing across his distended lips. His teeth were actually resting on her skin.

Before the car was even stopped, Edward had barreled out, towards Demetri. Alice was screaming defiance and clawed her way out of the car through my window.

Edward was screaming Bella's name and challenging Demetri intermittently.

"BELLA!"

"FIGHT ME YOU COWARD! MAKE ME GO TO ARO BUT LEAVE HER OUT OF IT!"

"Edward, I'm so very glad to finally see you. I was wondering when you would drop in to visit your pet. You've left her alone a very long time. Aro told me that you were nigh inseparable."

Edward stalked forward toward Demetri, crouching low, bearing his teeth in a frightening grimace.

"Edward! No!" yelled Alice.

"Hmmm…would you like me to kill her? One step closer and I'll rip her throat out.."

That brought us both up short. I had begun stalking forward as well. I see what he's doing.

_Edward? Edward, listen to me. He doesn't really want to kill her now, not with you here so close. He'll use her to lead you to Volterra. Don't push him though, he is not above turning her himself. I believe that he will now make a play to get you to go Italy. _

Edward's head whipped back and forth in denial of my statements, his eyes never leaving Demetri's.

EPOV

I could barely make out the red taillights in front of us through the howling wind, dust, and pouring rain. I was consumed with desire to rend Demetri limb from limb for threatening her, along with the entire Volturi coven for their part in this. I thought by leaving her she would be safe, but in fact my leaving changed nothing. The Volturi still went after her. I am truly an abomination of nature. The only thing I can do now to redeem myself to her is to save her. If she lives she will hate me, if she dies, I will die.

As I sped toward the SUV I noticed there were two figures intertwined in front of the vehicle, the lightning flashes searing this image into my head. Demetri, the Volturi tracker, holding Bella to him in an iron grip. Bella's head was tilted back, her mouth gasping what I hoped would _not _be her last few breaths. The storm whipped her long, dark hair back from her face and I could see the abject terror in her features, but there was something else I noticed in that instant: relief.

What has made her so ready to end her life? She was bright and happy before I left her, and now she's this dark, wild thing, so willing to cease her existence. My fault. All my fault.

I slammed on the breaks of my Vanquish, sliding around sideways while turning the headlights on. My wordless grief at what I had done propelled me from the car. If I die here tonight, I prayed to a God I knew existed, but questioned on a night like this, to please let it be because I succeeded in saving Bella from this different kind of monster.

"BELLA!"

Her eyes snapped to mine in that instant and shock, disbelief, and confusion rolled across her face. Demetri yanked her head back by her hair. I snarled, sank into a fighting stance, and stalked forward yelling,

"FIGHT ME YOU COWARD. MAKE ME GO TO ARO BUT LEAVE HER OUT OF IT!"

Out of nowhere, something small and hard knocks me off course.

Alice.

"Edward, I'm so very glad to finally see you. I was wondering when you would drop in to visit your pet. You've left her alone a very long time. Aro told me that you were nigh inseparable."

I did leave her, and who has benefited?

My lips pulled back over my teeth as my rage doubled.

"Edward, no!" screamed Alice over the storm's fierce howling wind. The tornado was steadily approaching our deserted stretch of highway. Debris was beginning to rain down on us, as was hail. A large hailstone dropped, striking Jasper in the side of the head, shattering into a million glittering pieces.

"Hand her over to us now, and we will let you leave this place with your life." I snarled.

"I don't think I will, because this whole venture is totally about you, Edward. Does sweet little Bella realize that her predicament is completely because of you?" Demetri mockingly intoned.

BPOV

This conversation was very confusing, hell, this whole situation was confusing. I'm not completely sure I'm still alive. I could feel Demetri's teeth resting on my neck, then some pain as bright lights blinded me and I heard my name called by a voice that was mysteriously close to Edward's, but distorted by pain. Next thing I know is I'm staring at Edward's face not fifteen feet away from my own while Demetri held my face upside down by my hair.

Now they are arguing with each other over my freedom.

Edward roaring up to barter for my life with this merciless killing machine was the last thing I expected when the scene of my impending death was bathed in bright light.

My eyes devoured every millimeter of his face – he must grow more perfect with time, or I had changed enough to appreciate it more. His focus would shift from throwing Demtri killer glares of incandescent fury, to boring into my eyes with his, sadness, confusion, and outright fear dominating his features. I had no idea what he was so afraid of. He left me, my death might be painful to him, but nothing he should fear.

I then noticed that Edward was not alone. Alice blocked him from advancing on Demetri and Jasper supported him from behind. The tornado was only about a half-mile away and a huge chunk of hail smashed into the side of Jasper's head, throwing glittering ice crystals into the empty space between Edward and Demetri.

"Hand her over to us now, and we will let you leave this place with your life." Edward whispered, his voice at his deadliest.

"I don't think I will, because this whole venture is totally about you, Edward. Does Sweet Little Bella realize that her predicament is completely because of you?" said Demetri, stroking my face, mocking Edward. I shuddered under his casual touch, bile rising in my throat.

"Sweet Little Bella, I do not believe I made the reason I came for you clear. My master covets your Edward's gift. His ability to hear the thoughts of those around him is a formidable talent, one my master wants very much. My original intent was to capture you and my master would ransom you for Edward's compliance, but you said he left you, which changes my plan.

"Edward, did you leave Sweet Little Bella to fend for herself, all alone?" Demetri asked.

Edward's face contorted with rage, misery, and regret. He looked me in the eyes before he answered Demetri. I felt like I could look all the way into his soul for the first time in over a year and a half, and I realized that I didn't like everything I saw there.

"Yes. I left her."

"Why would you leave such a delectable creature for others to find and enjoy. She's the most delicious thing I've ever smelled."

"Aro told me you love her, I believed it would be very difficult to get to her around you, but here I found her, alone and unprotected. So now, I issue you an ultimatum.

"You can turn and leave this place, and retain your freedom. My master will have to find a new way to seduce you into joining our merry band.

"Or, you can come with me and follow Aro."

"And Bella will be released, with no harm done to her?" asked Edward.

"Of course not, if you walk away, Bella is mine. She smells too good to pass up."

Demetri pulled me closer and ran his nose along my neck, all the while keeping his eyes on Edward. I saw Demetri's eyes widen before something rock hard rammed into my side.

The air was completely knocked out of me, and I fell on a rock, bruising my head, but luckily not cutting it. Demetri leapt over me, snarling, and I rolled over to get out of the way.

Edward had launched himself at us, trying to knock Demetri away. He succeeded in getting Demetri to let go of me, but Demetri was still blocking him. I looked up and saw that the tornado was right on top of us, not a quarter of a mile away. I began edging back, towards my Tahoe. I knew that everyone in this strange group, but me, could probably walk away from being struck by an F5 tornado. With everything that had happened in the last five minutes, my mind was going hazy. I had tunnel vision and all I could see was my borrowed Tahoe, the radio still blaring tornado warnings.

The fight behind me grew fierce, I knew I should make sure Edward was okay, but my survival instinct told me get the hell out of there.

I turned around.

Demetri was fighting Jasper and Edward while Alice called out Demetri's next move to them. Demetri was at a loss for how to attack, so he was reduced to fending off the joint attacks of Edward and Jasper.

Snarls ripped through the air over the tumultuous, thundering noise of the storm. The rain and wind whipped against my face as hail bruised my body.

Suddenly, Alice was knocked sideways by a dark blur. Jasper cried out and lunged for Alice.

"_NO!" _ Edward's shout brought me to my knees as Demetri wheeled around and barreled toward me.

Again, something, or someone, cold and hard as iron knocked me back against the Tahoe. My vision blurred out completely as I felt strong, freezing, and strange arms curl around me protectively. My head felt like it would split open, but I could not yet smell the acrid tang of my blood in the air. I knew that would be my end, that if my blood was spilt, this fight would end one way or another.

Through the haze of my possible concussion, I could hear screaming, snarling, cursing, and a strange clawing noise.

As my vision slowly returned I realized I had been moved to the middle of the gathering with the tornado right on top of us. I could not see who held me, but they were standing beside Demetri.

This is not good.

**Please review! Even if you hate it, I would appreciate your critique. Review Review Review!!**


	10. Out of My Control

**A/N: This chapter is a little short, but it sets up the second part of the story. I would like to personally thank everyone who has stuck with this story and reviewed it. You have no idea how much encouragement they have been. Thanks to Beaverslap, Jennrich2830, Jacinda L., Bear Hug Please, and Twilight17love for your reviews. **

The protective arms became restraining arms as I realized I was being held on the wrong side of the conflict. I struggled to break free, but the arms wound around me tighter. I twisted, trying to see who was holding me, but I couldn't turn in the iron grasp of their arms. A low hiss sounded from somewhere above my ear.

"BELLA!" Chills ran down my spine when I heard Edward shout my name. I have only heard that tone in his voice when my life was in danger.

Through the gloom, I could make out more figures standing with Edward. As they moved slightly closer, I could see Carlisle, Esme, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward.

Demeri was speaking, but I couldn't understand over the roar of the storm. Debris whipped by my face and smashed into the cars, but no one moved. Vampires wouldn't kill me tonight. They would stand here debating while a mile-wide tornado roared over, leaving them unscathed and obliterating me.

Something just didn't seem right with the Cullens. Carlisle's face was filled with abject sorrow and Esme was quietly sobbing. Edward's rage-filled face was beyond recognition as he furiously glared at whoever was restraining me. Emmett just stared.

I could see cloaked figures ranged in a staggered line past Demetri. Volturi reinforcements. They must have arrived at the time as the rest of the Cullens. One of them must be holding me hostage.

Edward edged closer, disregarding whatever Demetri was saying to Carlisle. I couldn't hear him over the raging wind, but I could read his lips. His eyes were focused somewhere over my head.

"I'll kill you. I don't care who stands in my way. I will find you and I will burn you alive."

It felt like ice-cold water had been dumped on my head. This was a new Edward, a violent being I had only ever seen hinted at behind his elaborate façade of humanity. I finally, really, saw him as a vampire.

In his demon's eyes, I saw fury, loathing, contempt, and betrayal. In that moment, I knew who was restraining me on the wrong side of the fight.

Rosalie.

She took a deep breath. "This is what must be done to keep our family together."

I could see Emmett through the swirling debris, his eyes focused on Rose, the pain and betrayal evident on his face.

So, she would sell me to the Volturi to keep her family complete.

Carlisle stepped forward. "Rose, please. Please bring Bella back to us. You are destroying Edward and you will destroy this family by letting Bella die. We love her, Rose. As we love you."

"No! She is not part of this family! I will not let one of us become Aro's mindless henchman to save her life. Edward left her, he won't turn her immortal, therefore he must not really love her, or her would want to keep her. So really, how important is her life? Let her die and keep Edward from becoming a murderer ten times over what he already is. One life for hundreds."

Carlisle looked desperately back at Rosalie and I felt her whole body lock down against his censure.

"You are making a mistake that will rip this family apart. I love you as a daughter Rosalie, but I will not hesitate to save Bella from your misguided plan."

"This is the right thing, Carlisle. I can see it."

"You are blinded by your jealousy and hate! Think about what Bella death will do to Edward and the rest of this family. Think about Emmett! Have you considered what your decision has done to him, and will do when Bella is dead, at your hands? He loves her as a sister, Rose."

"Time heals all wounds of the immortal, he will move on."

Rosalie began pulling me backward, away from Edward, away from safety. Demetri stepped in front of us, speaking to Edward.

"I will not make you choose now, Edward. You have three days to decide. We will return to Volterra with Bella. If you wish for her to live, you will arrive there permanently before three days are out. If you do not come, we will know your answer and I will finally get to enjoy Bella fully."

The Volturi reinforcements closed around me and Rosalie drug me away, toward the borrowed Tahoe. I looked back to see Edward being restrained by Carlisle, Jasper, Esme, and Alice. He struggled fiercely to escape their arms. Emmett stood there motionless, staring after Rosalie, his body rigid with anguish.

He moaned, "Rose, please. Don't do this."

As I was herded into the back of the Tahoe, I turned once more against the iron grip of my betrayer, I met Edward's eyes, so full of fury and fear.

"Bella!" He screamed. "Let me go! Let me save her!" His voice ripped through three octaves.

"BELLA!"

**Now review until you can't push that button anymore! Review Review Review. It only takes a minute and every new one makes my day. If you don't like something, tell me! Always looking to improve!**


	11. Fights and Flights

**Sorry it's taken this long. I was hit with a debilitating case of writer's block and the story was at a crossroads; I couldn't decide where to take it. So I hope you like where I'm taking it. Thanks for bearing with Storm Warning this far. You have no idea how much I appreciate each and every reader and especially each and every review. **

BPOV

Horror is something one never gets used to.

I am just as terrified now by Jacob's lifeless form splayed in the back, behind me, as I was when I was shoved into the borrowed Tahoe.

Which is now a stolen Tahoe.

Rosalie sat beside me in the back, staring out the window and never meeting my eyes.

Her betrayal burned deep in my soul. I knew she had never taken to me as a potential sister, but I thought her animosity had cooled once I was out of her family's picture. I didn't realize she resented my intrusion into her family so deeply.

But I definitely get where she's coming from.

I understand her reasons perfectly. From her tense conversation with Carlisle as I was forcibly removed from the safety provided by the fractured Cullens, told me all I needed to know.

Rosalie is sacrificing me to keep her family together. To her, I, as a weak human, am something less – something worthless to be thrown away. She knows Emmett, and the rest of the family, will be devastated if Edward, or Alice for that matter, join the Volturi.

By my death, she retains her family and her happiness.

Edward had once told me, back in the golden days when he still loved me, that his family meant everything to Rosalie. Her vampire nature forever barred her from having children and building a family of her own. The Cullens were the next best thing to her, and she defends her family tenaciously.

And now I'm in the back of a stolen Tahoe, the one enduring character from my life that was only inhabited by monsters in my dreams, sitting next to the gloriously beautiful vampire that sold my soul for her family.

JPOV

The waves of confusion, rage, sadness, and in Emmett's case – despair, rolling off everyone makes it hard to concentrate.

As a fighter, I should be able to guess the Volturi guard's next move. They have to get Bella to Volterra before we catch up with them.

Right now, we are in no shape to fight for our lost family member.

Edward is face down in the ditch, his body wracking with tearless sobs. Alice stands motionless, her eyes glazed over, seeing nothing. Esme is crouched by Carlisle, who is sitting next to Edward in the ditch. And Emmett – poor Emmett.

Emmett is standing in the middle of the road. His anguish at the loss of Bella and the betrayal of his wife so great that he is completely still, his inner turmoil only evident to myself.

Carlisle stands, "Get up."

"We must do what we can to save Bella now. We cannot give up on her because one of our own did."

"I'LL KILL HER!" Edward snarls in rage.

A small voice from behind me floated over the last of the wind and rain from the once-raging storm –

"I won't let you."

Emmett walked slowly forward. His shoulders slumped in utter defeat. His voice creaked out from his broken vocal cords – "I will not allow you to slaughter my wife."

"She's killed my soul mate, Emmett! Don't you think that her death is fair justice, mate for mate?"

"No." Emmett's face crumpled. " Take me instead."

"NEVER!" screamed Edward, his body taught with stress, his head cocked in a mix of confusion and rage.

"You did not betray me, Emmett, she did. I will not hurt you because of what she did. SHE chose her side. SHE held Bella against her will. SHE condemned her to die if I do not join the Volturi. Emmett, I will not murder you, but if we don't make it in time to save Bella, I will rip you apart and kill Rose while you rejoin yourself. If we do make it in time, I will join them."

"Edward, no!" shouted Esme. "They cannot be trusted. How do we know they won't kill Bella anyway, after you join?"

I stepped forward to offer my insight and plan.

I faced Edward and Carlisle. "We might have a chance to save her. We will have to leave very soon, book a very fast flight to Italy, and arrive in Volterra some time before the deadline. Then we set up to grab Bella as they move her from the outer walls to their fortress inside the city."

"That could work." Carlisle paused, thoughtfully. "Edward and Alice's abilities would help us immensely and it would catch them off guard, not expecting us until the next day. I know Aro, he will expect me to go before him and make a plea for Bella's life and Edward's freedom.

"You all know I do not condone the taking of any life. In this situation, I will not sanction in violence in the offensive. You must only defend yourselves or Bella. Edward, this also goes for you and Rosalie. I will not allow you to destroy her. We must hear her side, first, before making any decisions."

Edward quickly crossed the clearing to my side, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Do you think we have a chance with this plan? Can we get Bella out alive?"

"I believe we can. Alice and your abilities will help us. The odds are decent."

"Thank you." Edward fervently answered. "Thank you, my brother."

Edward sprinted toward the Vanquish, with Alice right behind. Esme fished out her cell phone and dialed the airline, handing the phone to Carlisle.

Carlisle began book us a flight to Florence, red eye, to arrive tomorrow before noon. We would reach Volterra by mid-afternoon. I could feel Alice begin looking forward in her visions for the Volturi's plan to move Bella.

Esme gently put her arm around Emmett and led him to the Mercedes. He got in back, silent. I was last into the cars, folding my long frame into the Vanquish's seat.

We sped off towards the nearest airport, the last flashes of lightning giving way to blazing stars.

**A/N: I promise the next update will not take a month. This story follows me everywhere I go, so hopefully I can appease the writing gods by updating more often. Soooo……. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!! Seriously, it makes my day.**


	12. Bella's Head

The descent of the plane into Italy felt like a descent into hell. I sat lost in my own thoughts for the countless hours of the flight, never sleeping, almost never blinking, reliving the last days of my life. For that is what these surely are, my last days. It doesn't seem fair that I should get to live any longer after my wildest dream came true. Edward came back. He may have came too late, but he came none the less. I can die happy knowing that in my death he will be free from slavery to the Volturi. I am happy I saw his face again.

I am definitely not looking forward to this death, I am sure it will be long and painful. Demetri will assure that. I take comfort that my death will free Edward, free him of the obligation to join this evil coven.

It is this small comfort that keeps me from going crazy on the spot. My mind is reeling with the events of the last several hours. My capture, Jacob's death, Edward's return, Demetri's emergence, Rosalie's betrayal. She sat next to me the whole flight, silent and motionless, a stone sentinel. As if I had anywhere to go. In what I knew were my last hours, I thought about the implications of Edward's sudden return.

Why?

Why did he come back at that moment? I assume Alice saw my capture before hand, but if she could see that….why didn't someone warn me about the tornado that almost destroyed me in February? Did they only care if I was killed by their kind? Edward told me he couldn't stand trying to be human anymore. He said I could never understand him, never truly grasp what he has been through. He said we were too different for our relationship to work. He left me in the woods, with a whispered promise to never see me again. He said he was sorry he didn't love me anymore and left. I don't understand what would bring him back now.

It must be that twisted facet of his pride. That dark side of him that he hardly ever let show. He tried to hide it, but subtly I could tell that he was so arrogant that he believed everyone's problems were his fault – not because he was compassionate and blamed himself, but because he truly believed that he impacted everyone's lives that much. Well, my current predicament was definitely his fault.

I guess he felt some far-reaching moral obligation to attempt to save me. Edward and his morals.

But arrogant and cold, I love him anyway.

When I heard his voice across that road in Oklahoma, every particle in my body strained to reach him. I tried to rip myself away from Demetri's steel grasp and go to him. My arms are covered in nasty, purple bruises as a result. I ache all over from the fight, hitting the Tahoe, and being held by multiple over-zealous vampires. The worst injury I'm dealing with now is the stinging crescent wound on my neck. It can't be bleeding or I would definitely be dead right now, but it is scraped and what little venom made it into my neck is burning like fire.

Closed or open, his face swims before my eyes like a haze – his angel's face contorted with fury, his eyes as black as yawning chasm, but burning with the power of ten thousand suns. Black fire rains down on me from this vision. I'm happy that I saw him one last time before my death, but saddened that my last glimpse of my love was of the dark, feral being that exemplifies all my fears about what he is. I'll never hear him laugh again. His laugh was a magical sound, contagious and merry. He had so many different kinds of laughs; the sharp bark of humor when he would find something ironic, the low chuckle I heard every time I would do something a little too much like a typical human, the short stream of laughter that always followed when Emmett would pick on –her, and my favorite, the long string of deep bell tones when he found something truly hilarious. It would light up his face, making him seem more human than vampire. For a minute I would forget that he could kill me with just a twitch of his hand.

So I sat there and remembered his laugh, his voice, and our happiest memories together because they didn't hurt anymore. How could these memories hurt me when I would cease to exist in a few days anyway. Remembering his face before my death seemed to be becoming a pattern in my short life.

**So the story didn't really progress, except that Bella is now in Italy. I thought a good look into Bella's head would be helpful in understanding the rest of the story. Again, sorry it took so long to update – life has definitely got in the way. But my Fall Break is next week, hopefully I can kick out a few more chapters. And always – REVIEW!! Let me know what ya'll think should happen from this point! I'd love to know where you think the story is going.**


	13. Midnight Swim

A dark path looms before me, deep velvet blackness envelops my body, stark silence pressing against my eardrums. My feet pull me onward, down the path, my feet padding against soft, dark soil. I feel an inexorable force urging my onward, faster, faster, until I'm running at a full sprint down this pitch-black path – no light, no sound to guide me. Sharp branches block my way, but I plow through the brambles in my haste, the dark, piercing brush no more painful than crow's feathers. I cannot decide if I am chasing something or fleeing, I just continue to sprint. Stars twinkle above me, but shed no light on this path. My way is dark, my eyes blind. I hear a small noise drift toward me on the soft, night air, steadily growing clearer. I hear my name whispered.

_Bella_

I race on. My feet are blurred now with my speed, I travel miles in just a few minutes. I feel my journey is at an end. My name floats towards me again, soft as a sigh, accompanied by a most glorious scent – hibiscus, warm earth, honey, and ocean. I smell color – emerald green, crimson, gold, and cerulean, all muted by the night. My blind eyes seeing in my mind a wonderful vision. I press on, breaking through the last of the trees, my eyesight restored by the vast full moon hanging in the brilliant midnight sky. I hear my name, whispering like the small waves breaking on the shore. I halt in the still-warm sands of the perfect crescent beach.

_Bella_

I sense a presence with me on the beach - a bright-white beacon in the midnight waters. I slowly walk down the beach, hesitant, my toes sinking in the wet sand, ocean waves lapping lightly at my ankles. The water is warm, comforting. A figure stands facing the endless horizon, staring at the moon. His smooth back beckoned to me over the black water. I walk deeper into the waves, the soaked hem of my short sundress clung to my legs. I stood behind him waiting.

"Beautiful moon tonight," he whispered. "I have watched it rise and move across the sky while I waited here for you."

"I'm sorry," I replied, my head dropping with unexpected guilt. "I ran here as fast as I could."

"Bella. I know you ran as fast as you could," he said. "I was pleased you got here so quickly. I have missed you."

"We have been apart so long. Lets end this, turn around," I whispered.

"Not yet, please allow me to prepare myself. I know you are still my Bella, but the changes since I left have been drastic and I do not want to rush you. I am sorry I left you to get used to this life on your own. I just did not want you to feel as if you owed me time, or anything. You know, now."

"No, I don't feel that way. I came here because I had to. I need to. I need you. A force pulled me here, down a path that led straight to you. It was dark, it was silent, full of obstacles, but straight and true. You were waiting here at the end, I can only assume I was meant to find you here. You said you were waiting for me."

"Yes, some force drew me here as well. It had a familiar feel, a taste almost. It was _you_. My path was not straight, it was not true. I had many paths to choose, some noble and others horrible, but the force pulled me onward, inexorably, down a long road that led to this beach. I waited here for you. I could feel you coming. I could hear your steps, so fast. I could taste your scent, no longer dangerous, but new somehow, a tang of sweetness, roses and orange blossom, sour citrus. It was you, but new. Different. I knew it had happened. I was elated to hear. I had hoped I could finally be with you, but my heart grew weary. I realized that now you had the time and perspective to make a truly informed choice. I ask that you make this choice now, before I turn around. You know I am essentially a selfish creature, I ask that you decide to stay before I look upon your undoubtedly breathtaking beauty and see what I have truly lost. Please, make it now."

"My path has been long, tough, and dark. But as I said straight. It led me here to you. It is _you. _ It has always been _you. _ And it always will be. Please turn around, I will still be here. "

Slowly, the figure turned, his eyes closed tight. I stayed where I was, frozen in the waves. With his confession I felt suddenly powerful.

"Open your eyes."

And he did. I stared into his eyes for the first time in weeks, since the awful events in Italy. I saw his pain and regret, I saw wonder, I saw shame. In his eyes, I saw a mirror image of myself, young and scared. These were my eyes, I thought, before. Before all the events that led to this moment. This was how I looked at _him_. His expression changed to one of cautious admiration. He took a small step toward me in the water, small waves lapping at his jaunting hipbones, his ever-present khakis soaked to a dark brown. I stepped to him, reaching a hand out for his. Our hands met in the middle -his large, capable hand engulfing my small, alabaster one. I was back. I was healed. I was whole.

We could have stood there for hours. Time had ceased to mean much for me on that beach. We just stared at each other. Our collective wonder lighting up the night, our bright white skin, shining moon-like together in the darkness of the midnight beach.

He closed the distance quickly then, pulling me into him with a small moan.

"_Bella," _he whispered, agonizingly. "_I have missed you." _

He pulled my head up from his chest and crushed his mouth to mine. My mouth responded in new ways to this complete abandonment of his careful control. This was a new Edward, a new being I had only ever seen hinted at during our most passionate moments.

"_Bella, I love you. I'll never leave you. I am yours. Please forgive me."_

I was incoherent as a result of his ardent pleading, his kisses rendering me breathless with the old longing. Waves washed over us, neither of us cared. The tide could carry us out to sea, and we would not have noticed. The sweetness of our reunion could not be spoiled. I answered his question without words. I pulled myself into his arms, laying him back in the water. He pulled us deeper, the water up to our necks, my white dress completely soaked and useless. I molded myself to him, our bodies pressing together. I could not remember being happier, ever. His hands worked up and down my back, rubbing a steady rhythm to our kissing. I felt a catch, and then a release as he began to slide my dress off my shoulders. I slid around to his side and ran my mouth up his neck to his ear. Kissing his neck, I lightly bit his ear. He pulled me around roughly to face him, growling in my ear:

"This will be _so _much easier now that you are a vampire."

I jolted awake as Rosalie unceremoniously dumped me out of my airline seat and drug me to the doorway.

_What had I just seen?_


	14. Not Exactly an Update

Not exactly an update…..more of an explanation.

For the few people that consistently read and review my chapters, first: THANK YOU, the reviews have helped so much. Second, its been so long between updates because I didn't really know where to take the story from here.

I now know where the story is going and where it will end, I'm just working on getting there. So an update is coming, albeit slowly thanks to a demanding course schedule and fun, but busy sorority life (tri sigma). Thanks for the support. I'm working on the next chapter RIGHT NOW!


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